Ryland Park

The park was probably nice at one point, but now it’s been overrun by homeless people. Not the parks fault, but not the best place to take kids.

Nice little park but nothing exceptional.

Great pool! Only 1 feet deep on edges and 4 feet in the center. The girls love it and not crowded at all. You can swim all day for $ 3! The park is so cute but tons of transients hanging out so I was no comfortable out there. The girls have started swim lessons and so far love it!

Clean, quiet, great play structures. Some suspicious activity from the loiterers, but good for a quick stop in the city.

I really want to love this park, but for some reason I just don’t feel comfortable here with my daughter unless I am with my boyfriend. And such a shame bc it’s so close to home.
I think my problem is that this park doesn’t seemed to be monitored well by some sort of park ranger or security or whoever. Many transient people come to hang and I have seen many drinking 40’s in broad day light.
Overall it’s a great park. Grass area, workout area, play, and basketball as well as a pool right next to it.

Awesome park close to downtown…

Great swimming pool, nice staff, but too limited hours… Really, three hours open swim so a few kids can have lessons. More open swim=more revenue. I get it, lessons are guaranteed income, but come on, the pool is so large, seems classes could consolidated.
Major con: Picnic area is over run with bold, dirty, drunk/​drugged people. (Drinking directly under a posted sign, no alcohol consumption) Rudely swearing, throwing the «F» bomb freely as we walked by with adolescent kids that know better. Area smells of urine and booze. Very uncomfortable walk from parking lot to pool. San Jose police beat officer in charge of this area is really missing the boat. With a little police patrol, it wouldn’t b so «comfortable» for people to hang out.

The park is nice and cleaned regularly. There is a nice enclosed area for small kids to play. Yes, there are sometimes homeless people hanging around, but they are harmless and we do live in a city.
The pool is nice and clean and great for kids. The swimming lessons are so-​so, but the kids on staff are very nice. This is great community resource almost totally wasted because of the VERY limited hours and open swim. I mean who takes their kids between 1:30 and 3:30 the hottest, most sun-​intensive part of the day? How about 1:30 — 6:00? After all, they would raise more money!

Cons: Lots of bums lingering in the cement tables and benches with the onsite fire pits. These people will hang out here all throughout the day. I’ve seen them do drugs before in the past and it is really sad that we have this at our Parks for Kids!
Pros: Great kids 2 – 5 year old playground area enclosed. Also Kids older have a separate spot to play. They have a swimming pool that they open up in the summer and is good for kids. Basketball court for people wanting to shoot hoops. Lots of grass area for soccer, football, or Frisbee. Very close to food and other amenities.
Overall we like this park, but there are some dangers that are present with unknown types wandering the area.

This is a cute little park, and very family oriented.
For some reason, the majority of the playground is covered with bark instead of sand. I’m sure there’s a function to this I’m not keen to, but it’s a mystery. I personally don’t like the feel of bark chunks between my toes. But I guess that just means I’ll have to wear shoes while tra-la-la’ing through the playground.
There are a couple different playgrounds here. It might look kind of like a cage, as the playground itself is surrounded by about a 3′ tall gate. Though I imagine this works well for taming the wee children who want to run, roll, and bounce all over the place.
You’ve got your slide.
Your monkey bars.
Your balance beam.
Another little monkey bar sections.
A huge green field.
Trees.
Bushes.
Children.
Dogs.
Yey!
There’s even a community pool, but you have to sign up with them to use it.
My only weird qualm with the park is that they lock it up at night. I think it’s to keep it from being vandalized. But still. A wee bit strange. Still a cool neighborhood park though.

Good park! All the typical climbing, swinging, sliding, and play features that you find at most parks for kids. I wanted to write this review for the pool, however. It should probably have its own Unilocal page because it’s currently operated by California Sports Center, the hours are very limited, and you have to pay to get in (unlike the park).
The Rotary Ryland Pool is the BEST for small kids! It’s a huge circle about 2 feet deep at the side and 4 feet in the middle. My 3 year old can easily walk the circumference without getting his chin wet. Wide, easy steps, plus a gentle ramp that can help nervous water bugs ease into the pool. The lifeguards and staff are friendly. They allow most water toys in the pool (balls, diving rings, etc.), and provide lifejackets. The water seems clean (slightly salty from filtration, actually), and is just the right temperature (not chilly, but not warm like bathwater either, yuk).
Bonus entertainment! On Mondays, the garbage trucks roll thru the apartment buildings across the street. My son loves this. Also, the light rail passes by on the east side («Momma, look, train!»), and you can see the jets go by very low on their way to the airport («BIG AIRPLANE!»). Quite a lot of bang for the buck in the eyes of my boy.
My one complaint: Very limited hours. Open only from June thru mid-​August, and open swim for only two hours a day (I suppose they teach swim classes there as well). So that’s why the minus one star. Well, that and the homeless people sleeping in the grass by the play areas.
I was going to complain also that there are no lounge chairs, only benches and plastic upright chairs. But after thinking about it, I decided this keeps the facility more attractive to families and encourages being active with the kids rather than sunbathing. For this pool, that’s a good thing!

Druggies tend to congregate at the park benches. They usually keep to themselves but when they don’t they are insane! I speak from experience.

Pros:
* Great for kids. Love the pool when it’s open (w/​lifeguards).
* Lot of room to run around and burn off energy.
* Has a nice picnic/​bbq area as well.
* Glad the dog park is across the street. My kids are bid timid around them.
Cons:
* Never know when the pool is open. When it is open, it’s awesome for the kids. Basically, you show up and cross your fingers. There’s no web site or a hot line to call.
* Can use some shade around the play areas.

Unilocal has this park all wrong. It is not a dog park. There is a dog park just across the street, under the Market-​Coleman overpass. Please, Unilocal,un-​confuse things and make separate entries for these 2 different parks.
Ryland Park has a nice grassy area for soccer, frisbee, homeless napping or whatever. There’s also a nice playground for the kids, 1 & ½ basketball courts, chess tables, BBQs & picnic areas, the swimming pool that’s open 20 days a year and a nice sitting area close to 1^st St for the homeless to watch the squirrels & traffic.
Ryland Dog Park is across the street, under the overpass.

There’s a playground, a couple of basketball courts, there’s a pool that’s open like 3 weeks every year during summer (yeah… why??), and it has a picnic area with lots of tables and benches. The picnic area can be reserved for parties. There’s a small field for dogs and people to run, play, or sleep.
It’s clean (I don’t know about the restrooms, I’m too scared to check them out) and it has lots of greenery. It’s in a quiet neighborhood but bums like to hang out and sleep here morning, noon, and night.

I love how they used the space here. There is a pool, playground, fitness area, picnic area, basketball court, and lots of grass. I especially like how the playground is made to look like a train with tracks and all. There is a parking lot, but its small. There isn’t much street parking unless you park in the neighbor next door.
The downside of this park is that it is downtown. Some homeless like to sleep on the benches off of First Street. But they are usually gone during the day and have never bother me.

This is a fave park amongst my family! My 7year old really likes the oversized disc shaped swing! My son goes nuts for the choo choo train shaped play structure. and I like that the 2 – 5 year old section is gated. The park has about 3 slides .a zipliner. a little (thing) you sit on and it spins! Big kid swings. toddler swings .basketball courts and a little grassy are. there are a handful of picnic tables and a small parking lot. bathrooms and swimming pool! Great park!! well except the last time we visited there was a homeless man. hanging around. So we ended up cutting out trip short

Simple and clean park. Sometimes people let their dogs run free because the off-​leash area is not that great, but I’m a good citizen, I keep my pup leashed. :D
It’s nice an cozy with great play areas. Definitely worth skipping St. James for this.

I love the simplicity of this park. I admire it when walking by. Yesterday stopped with Adam and was surprised that there is a pool here as well.
Awesome! The park is usually partially gated but easily accessible. Nice simple bench that’s spaced well. Green shrubs and healthy looking plants all around.
I don’t know but it looks very romantic anytime of the day. I usually walk by around 4 – 5 but I’ve seen it at 9pm during summer and I like it too!:)
It’s in a very quite part of a neighborhood that feels like it’s miles away from everything. Officially it is next to a group of nice looking buildings. A few blocks from St James Park.

Ok this dog park is about the size of my room. It is very tiny and is right under a freeway so there is no sunlight at all. No grass. just gravel. Honestly two medium sized dogs would be the max that this «dog park» can comfortably hold.
I lived in Japan town about 10 blocks away and my house mates and I owned a Great Dane/​Lab mix. It was a BIG dog but granted very very friendly and one of the most well behaved, obedient dogs I have ever taken care of.
I would walk him to this dog park and let him run around in the little enclosure even though it was way too small for him.
One day there was a lady with her little Pomeranian at the dog park. I walked in. said hi… smiled. and let Audi (the dog) run free. Audi was on his own side of the park sniffing around but slowly made his way up to the other dog. they weren’t doing anything but the lady freaked out. walked up to my dog and kicked him really hard. WTF. She said I needed to learn how to take care of a dog and that she was at the dog park first.
In the end, I decided that this lady really needed an eye opener when it comes to dogs and dog parks. I never brought Audi back. The only reason why I came was because it was the only dog park walking distance of the house that he would have fun at. plus that lady really pissed me off. who kicks other people’s dogs?
. I should of kicked hers…